EPISTULA ( OCTAVIANI CAESARIS ? ) AD SAMOS
   
Letter ( of Octavian ? ) to Samos on Aphrodisian Privileges
  
( 38 BC )
 
    
( J. Reynolds, Aphrodisias and Rome, London, 1982, n. 13 ).
 
 
vac. αὐτοκράτωρ Καῖσαρ θεοῦ Ἰουλίου υἱὸς Αὔγουστος Σαμίοις ὑπὸ τὸ ἀξίωμα ὑπέγραψεν | ἔξεστιν ὑμεῖν αὐτοῖς ὁρᾶν ὅτι τὸ φιλάνθρωπον τῆς ἐλευθερίας οὐδενὶ δέδωκα δήμῳ πλὴν τῷ τῶν | [Ἀφροδεισιέων] ὃς ἐν τῷ πολέμῳ τὰ ἐμὰ φρονήσας δοριάλωτος διὰ τὴν πρὸς ἡμᾶς εὔνοιαν ἐγένετο | οὐ γάρ ἐστιν δίκαιον τὸ πάντων μέγιστον φιλάνθρωπον εἰκῇ καὶ χωρὶς αἰτίας χαρίζεσθαι ἐγὼ δὲ | ὑμεῖν μὲν εὐνοῶ καὶ βουλοίμην ἂν τῇ γυναικί μου ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν σπουδαζούσῃ χαρίζεσθαι ἀλλὰ | οὐχ ὥστε καταλῦσαι τὴν συνήθειάν μου· οὐδὲ γὰρ τῶν χρημάτων μοι μέλει ἃ εἰς τὸν φόρον τελεῖτε | vac. ἀλλὰ τὰ τειμιώτατα φιλάνθρωπα χωρὶς αἰτίας εὐλόγου δεδωκέναιv οὐδενὶ βούλομαι
 
English translation ( Inscriptions of Aphrodisias Project ).
  
 
Imperator Caesar Augustus, son of divus Julius, wrote to the Samians underneath their petition : You yourselves can see that I have given the privilege of freedom to no people except the Aphrodisians, who took my side in the war and were captured by storm because of their devotion to us. For it is not right to give the favour of the greatest privilege of all at random and without cause. I am well-disposed to you and should like to do a favour to my wife who is active in your behalf, but not to the point of breaking my custom. For I am not concerned for the money which you pay towards the tribute, but I am not willing to give the most highly prized privileges to anyone without good cause.
 

 
►  Bibliography
 
 
Millar, The Emperor in the Roman World (31 BC-AD 337), London, 1977, pp. 243 and 431-432 ; Bernhardt, Historia, 29, 1980, pp. 190 ss. ; Pleket & Stroud, Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum, XXXII, Amsterdam, 1982, n. 833 ; BE 1983, 374 ; AE 1984, n. 867 ; Pleket & Stroud, Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum, XXXIV, Amsterdam, 1984, n. 1044, and XXXV, n. 1081.
 
 
►  Source : Inscription on a column discovered at Aphrodisias, Turkey.